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introducing 3ds max 9 ® 3d for beginners dariush derakhshani randi munn with jon mcfarland wiley publishing inc.

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introducing 3ds max 9 ®

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introducing 3ds max 9 ® 3d for beginners dariush derakhshani randi munn with jon mcfarland wiley publishing inc.

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acquisitions editor mariann barsolo developmenteditor stephanie barton technicaleditor mark gerhard productioneditor rachel meyers copyeditor kathy carlyle productionmanager tim tate vicepresidentandexecutivegrouppublisher richard swadley vicepresidentandexecutivepublisher joseph b wikert vicepresidentandpublisher neil edde mediaprojectsupervisor laura atkinson mediadevelopmentspecialist kate jenkins mediaqualityassurance kit malone bookdesigner caryl gorska compositor kate kaminski happenstance type-o-rama proofreader nancy riddiough indexer jack lewis anniversarylogodesign richard pacifico coverdesigner ryan sneed coverimages dariush derakhshani and jon mcfarland dan savage dan figueroa and crude awakenings from the art institute of california los angeles used with permission copyright © 2007 by wiley publishing inc indianapolis indiana published simultaneously in canada isbn 978-0-4700-9761-8 no part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted under sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 united states copyright act without either the prior written permission of the publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the copyright clearance center 222 rosewood drive danvers ma 01923 978 750-8400 fax 978 646-8600 requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the legal department wiley publishing inc 10475 crosspoint blvd indianapolis in 46256 317 572-3447 fax 317 572-4355 or online at http www.wiley.com/go/permissions limit of liability/disclaimer of warranty the publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose no warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation this work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal accounting or other professional services if professional assistance is required the services of a competent professional person should be sought neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom the fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or recommendations it may make further readers should be aware that internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read for general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support please contact our customer care department within the u.s at 800 762-2974 outside the u.s at 317 572-3993 or fax 317 572-4002 wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books library of congress cataloging-in-publication data is available from the publisher trademarks wiley the wiley logo and the sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of john wiley sons inc and/or its affiliates in the united states and other countries and may not be used without written permission autodesk and 3ds max are registered trademarks or trademarks of autodesk inc in the u.s.a and/or certain other countries certain content including trial software provided courtesy of autodesk inc ©2007 all rights reserved the autodesk 3ds max 30 day trial provides free access to the software for non-commercial use animation and 3d graphics students industry professionals or anyone interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics cg now has the opportunity to explore all aspects of the 3ds max software this product is subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies the software all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners wiley publishing inc is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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to max henry acknowledgments we are thrilled to be bringing the successful introducing 3ds max format to the powerful autodesk 3ds max audience education is an all-important goal in life and should always be approached with eagerness and earnestness we would like to thank our teachers who inspired us you can always remember the teachers who touched your life and to them we say thanks we would also like to thank all of our students who taught us a lot during the course of our many combined academic years equally we would like to extend many thanks to the student artists who contributed to this book many of whom are our own students from the art institute of california at los angeles thanks to the ai faculty for their help in gathering the inspiring work for the color insert and for their support in writing this book having a good computer system is important with this type of work so a special thank you goes to dell for keeping us on the cutting edge of workstation hardware special thanks go to mariann barsolo rachel meyers stephanie barton and kathy carlyle our editors at wiley who have been professional courteous and ever patient our appreciation also goes to technical editor mark gerhard who worked hard to make sure this book is of the utmost quality tremendous gratitude goes to jon mcfarland for his fantastic contributions to the book we would not have been able to finish the book without his help finally thanks to our mother and brother for their love and support not to mention the life-saving babysitting services.

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about the authors dariush derakhshani is a creative director with radium a visual effects boutique and a writer and educator in los angeles california dariush used autodesk s autocad software in his architectural days and migrated to using 3d programs when his firm s principal architects needed to show their clients design work on the computer dariush started using alias poweranimator version 6 when he enrolled in usc film school s animation program and he has been using alias animation software for the past 11 years he received an m.f.a in film video and computer animation from the usc film school in 1997 he also holds a b.a in architecture and theatre from lehigh university in pennsylvania he worked at a new jersey architectural firm before moving to los angeles for film school and he has worked on feature films music videos and countless commercials as a 3d animator as a cg supervisor and sometimes as a compositor dariush also serves as the editor in chief of hdri3d a professional computer graphics cg magazine from dmg publishing randi lorene munn is a staff instructor with the art institute of california at los angeles she began working with computer graphics in 1992 and she was hired by her instructor to work at sony pictures imageworks where she developed her skills with 3ds max and shake among many other programs a teacher since 1999 randi enjoys sharing her wisdom with young talent and watching them develop at the art institute as well as at the ucla extension currently she teaches a wide range of classes from autodesk 3ds max to compositing with apple shake and adobe after effects juggling her teaching activities with caring for a little baby boy makes randi a pretty busy lady manages the cad department for a national owner developer/manager of retail office and residential mixed-use properties in cleveland ohio he creates and supervises the creation of architectural drawings 3d mock-ups and 3d animations using autocad 3ds max photoshop and an array of additional programs and applications jon also teaches computer animation and autocad at the virginia marti college of art and design in lakewood ohio in addition to teaching he has been an author or contributing author of several books including master visually 3ds max 8 and mastering autodesk viz 2007 he has created instructor content and has been the technical editor for several titles jon mcfarland

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contents at a glance introduction chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 9 chapter 10 chapter 11 chapter 12 index xii basic concepts 1 your first max animation 31 the 3ds max interface 61 modeling in 3ds max part i 105 modeling in 3ds max part ii 179 organic poly modeling 225 materials and mapping 275 introduction to animation 325 character studio and ik animation 365 3ds max lighting 405 3ds max rendering 445 particles and dynamics 479 515

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contents introduction chapter 1 basic concepts xii 1 how to read this book what is cgi production workflow cg workflow cg specialties core concepts coordinate systems basic animation concepts basic 3ds max terms and concepts summary chapter 2 your first max animation 2 2 4 8 12 14 22 23 27 30 31 getting around in 3ds max project and file management workflow the 3ds max interface jumping headlong into animation setting up the hierarchy summary chapter 3 the 3ds max interface 32 32 35 41 52 59 61 what am i looking at managing scene objects summary 62 96 103

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chapter 4 modeling in 3ds max part i 105 planning your model modeling concepts look at the mesh you got us into editable poly tools modeling a chest of drawers modeling a hand summary chapter 5 modeling in 3ds max part ii 106 107 119 129 137 164 177 179 setting up the scene the editable poly tools lofting the barrel lathing the wheels using snapshot to create the tracks summary chapter 6 organic poly modeling 180 184 206 215 217 223 225 setting up the scene creating the basic form adding detail final touches summary chapter 7 materials and mapping 226 231 254 271 273 275 materials the material editor mapping a pool ball mapping just a little bit more maps more mapping exercises mapping coordinates summary 276 278 294 302 305 309 315 323

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chapter 8 introduction to animation 325 hierarchy in animation the mobile redux using dummy objects bouncing ball using the track editor­curve editor track view anticipation and momentum in knife throwing summary chapter 9 character studio and ik animation 326 330 333 335 350 354 364 365 character animation character studio workflow creating a biped animating a biped associating a biped to a character using inverse kinematics summary chapter 10 3ds max lighting 366 366 368 376 391 399 404 405 basic lighting concepts three-point lighting 3ds max lights common light parameters ambient light creating shadows atmospheres and effects light lister summary 406 408 411 425 432 432 438 442 443

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chapter 11 3ds max rendering 445 rendering setup motion blur previewing with activeshade cameras safe frame render elements rendering effects raytraced reflections and refractions summary chapter 12 particles and dynamics 446 455 457 457 462 463 466 470 477 479 understanding particle systems setting up a particle system particle systems and space warps using rigid body dynamics using soft body dynamics summary index 480 484 499 504 511 514 515

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introduction welcome to introducing 3ds max 9 3d for beginners the world of computer generated imagery cgi is fun and ever-changing whether you are new to cgi in general or a cgi veteran new to 3ds max you ll find this book the perfect primer it introduces you to 3ds max and shows how you can work with the program to create your art whether it is animated or static in design this book exposes you to all facets of 3ds max by introducing and plainly explaining its tools and functions to help you understand how the program operates but it does not stop there this book also explains the use of the tools and the ever-critical concepts behind the tools you ll find hands-on examples and tutorials that give you firsthand experience with the toolsets working through these will develop your skills and the conceptual knowledge that will carry you to further study these tutorials expose you to various ways to accomplish tasks with this intricate and comprehensive artistic tool finally this book explains the 3ds max workflow it explains how specific tasks are accomplished and why that is it explains how the tasks fit into the larger process of producing 3d animation by doing that these chapters should give you the confidence you need to venture deeper into 3ds max s feature set either on your own or by using any of 3ds max s other learning tools and books as a guide learning to use a powerful tool such as 3ds max can be frustrating you need to remember to pace yourself the major complaints cg book readers have are that the pace is too fast and that the steps are too complicated or overwhelming addressing those complaints is a tough nut to crack to be sure no two readers are the same however this book offers the opportunity to run things at your own pace the exercises and steps may seem confusing at times but keep in mind that the more you try and the more you fail at some attempts the more you will learn how to operate 3ds max experience is king when learning the workflow necessary for any software program and with experience comes failure and aggravation but try and try again you will find that further attempts will always be easier and more fruitful above all however this book aims to inspire you to use 3ds max as a creative tool to achieve and explore your own artistic vision.

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introduction xiii what you will learn from this book you will learn how to work in cg with 3ds max but moreover we hope that you will learn how cg works and that you will be able to apply the basic techniques and concepts to any software package to accomplish anything you need from modeling to animation the important thing to keep in mind is that this book is merely the beginning of your cg education with the confidence you will gain from the exercises in this book and the peace of mind you can have by using this book as a reference you can go on to create your own increasingly complex cg projects who should read this book anyone who is interested in learning 3ds max should start with this book no other series of books provides a better more solid foundation than the introducing series introducing 3ds max will give you more than just the basics of software operation it will also explain how cg productions are accomplished if you are new to cg or you are a veteran looking to pick up another program introducing 3ds max will give you the core foundation you will need to progress further into autodesk s 3ds max software how to use this book introducing 3ds max 9 3d for beginners approaches teaching cg by first giving you an informal look into the core concepts that make up this art form the book aims to create a solid reference for you by showing you the commonly used toolsets and interfaces you will need to navigate to accomplish your goal by following up the concepts and reference introducing 3ds max gives you hands-on recitations in the form of exercises and tutorials letting you flex your muscles and giving you a chance to try for yourself the process can be a bit daunting when you begin to learn a cg program in that light it s best to explore the material in this book at your own pace and allow yourself to digest not just the nuts and bolts but also the workflow and concepts behind how and why 3ds max artists work the way they do once you have a firm grasp of the concepts introduced in this book you will be ready to tackle more advanced material in the form of an intermediate class or even another book learning cg is a tough hurdle to get over and you can rest easy knowing that this book is targeted to give you the tools you need to begin a longer deeper study of the craft.

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